Reunion
by mecb
Summary: GEORGE: Okay, so assuming Rube doesn't know about Ray, that's fine. But that doesn't mean we're not on rough water, especially since I saw Mason's post it...
1. The Day Is Blue

_This is my first Dead Like Me ficcie, so I'd really 3 it if ya could r&r for me. The next chapter shold be coming in a coupla weeks, and I'd be greatful for any constructive critisism that might make the whole thing more worth reading, lol. Hope you like!

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**DEAD LIKE ME - REUNION**

_**Chapter One – The Day Is Blue**_

_(Set straight after Season Two)_

_Did you ever get anyone saying to you 'Things never turn out the way you imagine them to.'? Shit, that's happened to me so many times. Now, being dead and all, I just imagine new things to suck…and it usually works._

_When I lost my virginity, I thought "Holy shit!" and it _was_ an experience. I just didn't imagine that the asshole wouldn't call._

_I guess you learn from your mistakes. That must make me the wisest person in America. Or the wisest reaper…_

_Whatever._

_Anyway, it's true – things never turn out to be the way you'd imagine them. Believe me, I know from experience._

_Wanna know? Take a ticket and sit the fuck down, then.

* * *

_

"Shit!" I said angrily. The damn car wouldn't start. Again. For the past couple of weeks the stupid thing has just been refusing to move. I nearly missed a reap because of it. Rube would have been angry.

So there's an upside to everything.

Not long after I managed to get the car to move of its own accord, I also managed to get stuck in a traffic jam. Bad timing, since I was _meant_ to be at Der Waffle Haus already.

This was _not_ my day.

You're probably wondering why the hell I'm telling you about a stupid-ass traffic jam. Well, the story has to start somewhere.

So, I'm sitting in my car, minding my own business. Well actually, I was half asleep and in my own world, but who's gonna be picky? I didn't notice that the cars started moving, so this guy behind me starts to spew shit:

"Hey, can't ya see the fucking cars are movin'? Some of us actually have a job!"

_Yeah, I reap people for a living_. _Feel like a demonstration?_ Still, I couldn't be bothered not listening to him:

"What are ya, dead or something?"  
_Yeah. More than you would ever imagine, asshole._

"Move your damn car!"

Idiot. I should have warned him, and I'll warn you now, I wasn't in a good mood. So I moved my car.

Problem was, I sorta went in reverse right into his poor excuse for a crap-heap. It was an accident, of course. Too bad he didn't think so. Like I cared.

He got out of his car (which looked more like a fucking tank!), thinking he was more of a man than a cocktail frank and a couple of shrivelled cherries.

Truckers are all the same – so full of their own shit. I was _so_ gonna give him hell!

"You're right!" I said to him as I walked up to his truck, "Some of us do have a job. By the looks of it, you're a professional piece of crap. D'ya wanna know what I do for a living?"

"What?" he said, not trying too good to stop the veins popping out of his neck, "What do you do? Bitch at people who actually have a life?"

"I kill people for a living." I said blatantly, knowing he would either think I was crazy or be scared the hell out of his cocktail frank.

"What the hell?" he answered, also suddenly aware that our argument had made another traffic jam. He seemed scared, but that might have had to do with the sudden car horn that came from behind us.

See what I mean about being full of shit? This guy was all talk and no backup.

"Look," I said, for some reason deciding to waste even more time talking to him, "I am _not_ in a good mood today, in case you haven't guessed. I don't kill people for a living but if you like, I could make a start. You could even be my first customer!" I continued, giving him the most obviously fake smile I could manage. I could tell that I was coming very close to the edge with him. Hence the second bout of hell-giving:

"So, if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to my car now. You see the one in front, that isn't a sack of shit like this thing here?" I laughed, slapping his bonnet, "And you are gonna shut your trash mouth before I seriously think about shutting it for you," I smiled over-sweetly, just like before, "You got that?"

"Jeez…" was all he could say as he sank back into his seat. Obviously, no woman had spoken to him like that before. Probably, all of his past women (which I'd assume to be as stupid as him) actually believed his bull.

Having taken out my frustrations (which were mainly to do with the car) on the truck driver, I went back to my car that, thank God, was still working. Smiling at myself in the rear-view mirror, I headed to Der Waffle Haus to collect my post-it.

I know you're thinking that I probably overreacted a little at the truck driver, and I probably did. Like I said though, I was having a particularly bad morning (which had barely even started) and I needed to do something to make myself feel better.

If tearing shreds out of some wannabe truck driver for next to no reason was that something, I wasn't going to be the one to complain.

* * *

I couldn't see Rube anywhere when I finally did get to Der Waffle Haus. Not that I was surprised, because he'd been doing quite a few disappearing acts lately. Asshole. 

Roxy was missing too, but at least she had an excuse. She was a cop. What excuse did Rube have? Apart from hand out times of death to us every so often, what did he actually _do_?

Even though the other two hadn't turned up, Mason and Daisy were sat in the usual place in the middle of the room, both looking _very_ guilty about something. Mason, I could understand. It's just…well, it's not like Daisy to actually get worried about stuff, or at least show that she gets worried about stuff. She obviously forgot to put up that protective shield today.

Being the caring person that I was, I decided to see what was up. Plus, because Rube and his post-its weren't around, I didn't have any other excuse for not going to work.

"Hey." I said flatly (still in a bad mood, by the way), dropping myself down next to Mason and opposite Daisy. I got no response from my 'Hey', so decided to just sit there until someone else spoke.

I noticed that Mason was a little (or, being honest, very) bruised. He barely even realised that I was looking at him, so I quickly lost interest and looked across at Daisy, who also seemed to be in her own worried world.

Was no one going to pay the smallest bit of attention to me today? My bad day was obviously not obvious enough to anyone. Damn.

I kicked Mason in the leg to try and snap him out of wherever he was. Not surprisingly, I actually got a response:

"Ow! Watch the fucking trousers!" he exclaimed, quickly bringing his leg up on the table so he could rub it better, "These are new! And didn't you notice the bruises?"

"Yeah," I said, not much giving a crap, "How did you get those?" I knew Ray was dead, so who else could have beaten the shit out of him?

"Don't you know that I box?" he said miserably, his mind still evidently not in the same place as the conversation.

I laughed at that. The idea of Mason boxing seemed about as realistic as Rube cracking a smile. I looked over at Daisy again, half expecting her to also find the idea hilarious. Instead, she just stared back at me, looking as sullen and down in the dumps as Mason.

"Where's Rube?" I asked.

"Bathroom." Mason replied distractedly.

"With his post-its?"

"Yes." he obviously didn't want to talk to me today.

"Okay, what's up?" I asked finally, getting more than annoyed that I didn't have a clue what was going on. Mason was about to reply, but he'd barely got his mouth open before Daisy jumped in before him:

"_Don't_ tell her, Mason." she said quietly.

"Don't tell me what?"

"It doesn't matter." Daisy replied, although it was obvious that whatever they were hiding mattered more than they were letting on.

"Daisy," I began, "If something bad's happened, I wouldn't mind knowing what the fuck it is!"

"Bad day much?" Mason said, with almost an ounce of real attention. Wow, they had noticed!

"Yeah," I replied, "And it'll get worse if you don't tell me what's happened."

"I think we should tell her, Daisy." Mason said. It actually sounded like he was using his brain! Would wonders never cease?

"Okay," Daisy agreed finally, "But it definitely can't go any further, right? It's bad enough that she knows what we did to Ray."

"Right." I said, getting more annoyed by the second, and also confused at the way Daisy was acting. Whatever they were going to tell me, it was _bad_. And by 'bad', I mean a lot worse than them killing ray, turning him into a pissed off graveling only to be re-killed by me.

"Well," Mason began, with that same worried tone to his voice, "You know the whole thing with Ray?"

"Yeah…" I drawled, secretly begging him to get on with it.

"Well…uh…," he fiddled with the scarf around his neck, looking at both me and Daisy as he did it, "I think Rube knows…and if he does, we're all very bollocksed."


	2. The Truth About Lightning

**Chapter Two – The Truth About Lightning**

I sat in Der Waffle Haus, barely able to speak because I had just been given the worst news since I was told I'd be reaping souls until forever. Believe me, it was _not_ fucking good.

Mason had just told me that Rube probably knew about what happened with Ray and, if you knew Rube, you'd know that little things like killing people never really put him in a happy mood.

You'd see me giving someone a compliment first.

Anyways, we all sat there, too scared to hell to actually speak to each other, waiting like fucking rabbits in headlights for Rube to come out of the bathroom and hand us our punishment.

For what I am about to receive, may the Lord make it as painless as possible.

Yeah fucking right. Like he ever listened to me when I was killed by a toilet seat.

"Shit…" Mason said miserably as he saw Rube emerge from the bathroom. He actually looked like he was about to, out of fear more than anything else.

"Don't give anything away, Georgia." Daisy said sternly as I looked across to see her reaction on impending doom. Other than that annoying warning (I_ hated_ being called Georgia!), she did nothing apart from shift in her seat.

"What are you looking so miserable about, Peanut?" Rube asked me as he sat next to Daisy. He ordered some toast with eggs and bacon (_extra_ crispy!) and waited for me to reply.

"My car wouldn't start this morning," I said, smiling slightly as he added in a blueberry muffin to the order for me, "Piece of shit."

"Your car isn't a piece of shit, Peanut. It's a good car. If you treated it like one, maybe it wouldn't break down as often."

I almost didn't have a comeback to that, but I just about managed, "If you didn't call me Peanut, maybe I wouldn't be so negative."

"Fair enough," Rube replied smiling as if he had an Ace of Spades hidden in each sleeve, "…Peanut."

I scowled at him as Kiffany returned with my blueberry muffin, thanking her as I began tearing it to shreds.

"You're welcome," she replied kindly, "…he's right, though. It's not a bad thing to be positive." I chewed on my muffin as she walked back into the kitchen to fetch Rube's cremated bacon.

"Why are you so nice all of a sudden?" Mason asked Rube in his usual confused manner, "You weren't exactly yellow and black smiley faces when you went _in_ the bathroom."

I couldn't blame Mason for saying that. Usually, something pretty fucking weird must have happened in the stars or tealeaves or whatever for Rube to not be angry. I mean, if he _did _know about Ray (which I was beginning to doubt even more by the second), he was doing a pretty good job of making sure the smoke didn't come out of his ears.

It wasn't until his mouth was suitably full of bacon that Rube gave a reply, "The bathroom's a reflective place for me, Mason. It's a good place for me to sort out my problems."

"Can't you just…I don't know…read a book or something?" I said lazily, my mouth full of blueberry muffin. I can bet I had blue teeth or something because of it.

"That'll distract you from your problems, Peanut. You need a place where you can concentrate. That's why the bathroom's good for me – because I can concentrate. Because I'm alone."

Rube placed a forkful of egg in his mouth while he waited for my answer. I hated it when he started talking garbage (lots and often), so I returned to him a helpful little quip, "So, for example, you could contemplate the universe while taking a shit?"

"Exactly." He smiled, waving his fork around to accentuate the point. All Daisy, Mason and I could do was wonder why the hell he wasn't screaming to the heavens about what he'd done.

Well, if he doesn't know, I'm not going to be stupid enough to tell him, am I?

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_Now for something a little unusual. To tell this whole story, I've got no choice but to involve my family at some point (I know, but I have no choice!). Now I'm obviously not there (I can imagine myself going all 'Exorcist' on my sister if I was!), so you're gonna have to put up with the third person narrative thing for a while, which also sadly means you won't be getting any of my quips either._

_Oh yeah. Don't bother asking me how I know all this stuff happened if I wasn't there. I'm _dead_! I guess it comes as part of the package._

_One more thing before I give you the pleasure of my family's company. I'm not gonna go through this shit more than once, so you'd better have a good memory. If you don't…well, that's your problem._

_And remember! The name's George. _Not _Georgia. _Not_ Peanut. Just George._

_Was there anything else? ….No, I think that was it. Have fun(!)

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"Reggie, are you ready for school yet?" Joy's voice rang up the stairs as her daughter prepared herself as slowly as possible for another Monday morning.

"Mom! There's half an hour yet!" she shouted back, adding (under her breath), "I'd be there yesterday if you got what you wanted…"

"Well, you'd better move your ass now because I'm not waiting all day for you!"

"It's not like it takes long to get to school anyways…" Reggie replied glumly, hoisting her schoolbag over her shoulder. She as good as stomped down the stairs to greet her mother's stony glare.

Such was the wonderful mother-daughter relationship in the Lass household.

"You got everything?" Joy asked her daughter coldly, trying at best to avoid actual eye-to-eye contact. It had been that way for a while now, having stemmed from one of their frequent arguments.

"I don't know why you're still in a bad mood about yesterday, Mom. It was just a movie." Reggie said nonchalantly, not actually bothered whether she had angered her mother or not.

"'Just a movie'," Joy repeated as the pair left the house and headed for the car, "Just an 'R' rated movie. Really…well, I guess I must have fallen asleep and missed the past five years, 'cause I didn't know you were seventeen." she put emphasis on the 'seventeen', in the hope that it would make Reggie feel guilty. It didn't work.

"Jeez, Mom. I told you, it's no big deal," Reggie stopped talking as she got in the car and did up her seatbelt, after which she added flippantly, "The movie sucked anyway."

"Reggie…" Joy began, seemingly ready to start on the caring mother spiel. She instead avoided all indication of emotion, "…Make sure you're out of school quickly. The electrician's coming about half an hour after you finish and I want to get back in time," Joy waited for a response from her daughter. When she didn't receive one, she added, "_Okay_, Reggie?"

"Okay, Mom." Reggie replied through gritted teeth.

The rest of the car journey was deadly quiet, with an atmosphere so thick it could have been cut by a knife. It suited both mother and daughter just fine.

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"Yummy!" I smiled, finally finishing my blueberry muffin (the stupid things take a while if you just pick at them). That was one thing Rube was good for – he taught all of us to appreciate our food. 

But how could you not appreciate a blueberry muffin?

On the subject of taking a while, Rube _still_ hadn't given us our post-its for the day. You'd think after all of his contemplation and crap the least he could do was handout a few pieces of yellow sticky paper, right?

Wrong, apparently.

It also didn't help matters that Roxy had just walked in. This isn't me being mean towards Roxy, don't get me wrong. It's just that her fashionably late entrance meant that I (along with Daisy and Mason) had to wait _even longer_ before we could get the hell out of Der Waffle Haus and not have the shit bored out of us.

"What?" Roxy said irritably as she sat down, in response to Rube's annoying stare in her direction.

"Why are you late?" he replied simply, gesturing at Kiffany to come to the table.

"Do you not see the badge?" Roxy asked sarcastically, "I actually _have_ a job."

"Is that meant to be a poke at me?" Mason smiled innocently. Daisy gave him a soft kick under the table as a means of telling him to shut the fuck up.

"What would you like?" Kiffany said in a friendly manner as she approached the table, pen and paper at the ready.

"Just a coffee, please," Roxy replied tiredly, not even looking up as she spoke her order, "Extra sugar."

"On the house." Kiffany smiled as Rube made to give her the money. As she went to fetch Roxy's coffee, Rube put away his cash and turned his attention to what actually mattered: the post-its.

"Your assignments for today…" he said, handing out a yellow slip to Mason, Roxy and Daisy.

"Where's mine?" I asked confusedly, at the exact same time Kiffany arrived with the coffee. Of course, my question was _not_ about the coffee.

"Oh…bollocks." Mason said quietly as he looked at his post-it.

"What?" I asked, even more confusedly. Why would no one answer me?

"It doesn't matter, Peanut," Rube replied finally, "Anyway, aren't people meant to be pleased when they get a day off?"

"Not when you won't tell me why."

"We've been through this before. Sometimes Reapers just get an off day. There's no reason."

With that, he got up from the booth and left, leaving me to stew in my juices, Roxy to be miserable, Daisy to not look at her post-it and, by the looks of it, Mason to shit himself silly.

After Daisy and Roxy left (which they did more or less straight after Rube), I homed in on Mason and his post-it:

"Who is on that thing?"

"You don't wanna know, Georgie-girl." He replied miserably.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know." I said, ripping the yellow paper from his grip. I'll tell you now, I didn't expect to see what I saw – lightning never usually strikes twice.

"It's okay…" Mason tried desperately, "It's not like it's any of your-"

"Not like it's any of my family? But it's still at my fucking house!"

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**_Hope ya like it. Please r'n'r, s'really important!_**


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